Actuating device for railway-crossing signals



Ang. 18, 1925.

C. R. GRAVES AGTUATINGDEVICE FOR RAILWAY CROSSING SIGNALS C. R. GRAVESACTUATING DEVICE FOR RAILWAY 4CROSSING SIGNALS Aug.1s, 1925.

Filed Feb. 5, 1925 2 Sheets-#Sheet 2 (5H. graves Patented Aug. 1 8,1925.

UNlT

caen a. enavns, or CLARION, iowA.

ACTUATING DEVICE FOR RAILWAY-CROSSING SIG-NALS.

Application filed February 5, 1925. Serial No. 7,072.

To @ZZ whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I CARL R. GRAVES a citizen vof the United States,residing atI following is a specification, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings.

Thisinvention relates to crossing signals on railroads as, for instance,the crossing signal shown, described and claimed in my Patent#1,506,630, granted on the 26th day of August, 1924, and particularly tothe means for actuating the signal mechanism, that is the train operatedmeans whereby the approach of a trsain toward the crossing sets a signalto adanger or stop position and the passage of the trainA past thecrossing re-v stores the signal to its normal or go position. In thesignal mechanism which forms the subject-matter of my prior patent abovereferred to, there is illustrated a railroad crossingsignal in .theforni of a semaphore mounted upon a mast, which semaphore in its safety.position is dropped or extended downward and in itsA danger position isvraised. This semaphore is held in its raised position by means ofa'latch and when a train approaches the crossing it operates anactuating or setting device and this, 'through a series of pull and pushrods, causes the semaphore arm to be raised and when raised it islatclied.V A `second actuating device is disposed beyond the crossing`so that when the last end of the train has passed beyond the crossing,this second actuating` device will be operated and this in turn, througha series of push and pull rods, as fully eX- plained in` my priorpatent, will release the latch and permit the signa-l to drop.

The present invention, as before sta-ted, has to do particularly withthe means whereby the signal is set and with the means whereby thesignal` is released, but it is to be understood that these actuatingdevices whereby the signal is actuated from its danger `position to itsgo position andvice versa might be applied to other signallingapparatus. single track road where tr ins are passing in bothdirections, a setting device will be disposed up the taclrand down thetraclr at such a distance from the crossing that an oncoming train willactuate a signalling device a suliicient time ahead of the arrival of Itis to be understood that on aV the train at the crossing yas to preventanyone` from `getting caught at the crossing itself, and that theactuating device for restoring the semaphore or signal Vto its normalposition will be disposedon each side of the crossing. Under thesecircumstances, it is obvious that this device being mounted upon asingle track road trains may move along the track in oppositedirections,and as a consequence a train leaving the crossing must not operate thesetting device designed to warn of the approach of a train, while anoncoming train niust not operate the iestorl ingV device which isdisposed on the side of the crossing towardA which the train is moving.

One of the objects of my invention, there fore, is to provide anactuating device which is simple and effective. Y

A further object is to providean actuating device of this characterwhich is so constructed that once it is depressed by the wheels of theforward truck ofan advancing train it will remain depressed untilthelast truck of the train has moved off of it.

A still further object is toprovide a device of this character whichwill be depressed by the passage of la train with relatively great easeand without any oscillation.

Another object is to provide an actuating device which is so constructedas to restore the signal to its normal position, which includes avdepressible member mounted beside the rails and which acts to initiallydepress the main actuating device so that this willV not oscillate,'theactuating device being so constructed that the last truck of the trainpassing over it will restore it to a position where it will becomeactive upon the passage of a. train in the opposite direction.

tntill another object istofprovide means whereby when arshort train hasmoved into a position over a crossing and past the restoring device andinto a position between the restoring device and the actuatingdevicethat thus if this train does not continue its onward movenient'butbacks across the crossing in reverse direction to that `which itoriginally took that the signal shall be set to danger position.

Other objects have to do with the details of construction andarrangement of parts as will appear more fully hereinafter.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figurel is a `diagrainmatic top plan View of a railroad track and sidinghaving my invention applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of an actuating means for setting a signaldisposed in its normal position;

Figure 8 is an enlarged section on the line 3 3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a like view to Figure 3 on an enlarged scale, showing theaction upon the setting device of cars moving in the direction of thearrow;

Figure 5 is a like view to Figure 4, but showing the action of the carson the setting device moving in an opposite direction to that in Figure4;

Figure 6 is a side elevation of a portion of a railway track showing therestoring lever and allied parts in their normal position;

Figure 7 is a like view to Figure 6 but showing the action on therestoring lever by car wheels moving in the direction of the arrow;

Figure 8 is a like vie-w to Figure 7 but showing the action of the lasttruck of a train on the restoring device moving in the direction of thearrow;

Figure 9 is a like view to Figure 8 but showing the manner in which therestoring device springs upward into its operative position just infront of the last wheel of the last truck of the car;

Figure 10 is a. section on the line 10-1O of Figure 6.

In Figures 2 to 5, I have illustrate-d the form of actuating devicewhich is used for setting the signal through the instrumentality of themechanism illustrated in my prior patent above referred to. In thesedrawings, A designates a rail of the track, and pivotally mounted uponthis rail are the two levers 10. These levers are pivoted attheirmiddles to the rail, there being a filler block 11 mounted up-onthe rail, each of the levers having a hub or boss 12 through which abolt 13 passes, this bolt holding each lever to the filler block and tothe rail. Each lever 10 at its upper end is pivotally connected to alongitudinally extending, depressible bar or rail 14 which is beveled atits extremities, this bevel extending down to or slightly below thesurface of the rail, Each lever 10 at its lower end is pivot-allyconnected to a longitudinally extending link 15 having depending lugs 16which are pivoted to the lower ends of the levers. rIhe link 15 at theend nearest the signal or crossing is pivoted to a link 17 which extendsparallel to the rail, and pivotally connected to this link is a yoke 93having two longitudinally extending rods or bolts 94 which are engagedat their ends with a plate 95. Connected to a rod 87 is a short rod 89which has sliding engagement through the plate 95 and carries a shoulder92 and a collar 92a slidingly engaging the rods 94. Surrounding the rod89 is a comp-ression spring 96 which bears against collar 91 fixed onrod 89 and against collar 95.

It will be obvious now that when the yoke 93 is forced to the right, isin Figure 5, that the spring 96 will be compressed and that no actionwill be had on the rods 87 and 89 to actuate a signal. If, however, onthe contrary, the links 15 and 17 are pulled toward the left, as inFigure 4, the plate 95 will strike against the shoulder 92a and the rods89 and 87 will be pulled, thus setting the signal at the crossing todanger position. lVith this device, when a train moves toward the right,as` in Figure 4, that is toward the crossing, the first wheel of thetrain will strike the rail or bar 14 and depress it. rilhis will swingthe lower ends of the levers 10 toward the left, as in Figure 4, thusexerting a pulling effect upon the links 15 and 17 and rods S7 and 89 toset the signal to danger. If a train moves toward the left, as in Figure5, the wheels of the train will shift the bar or rod 14 initially towardthe left instead of toward the right and the bar or rod 14 will bedepressed and the lower ends of the levers 10 will be shifted to theright, thus forcing the links 15 and 17 and the yoke 98 to the right,which will simply cause a compression of the spring 96 without affectingin any way the rods 87 and 89.

The important feature of my invention resides in the fact that thedepressible rail or bar 14 has a length equal to the distance betweenthe wheels of any of the trucks used on railroad trains and equal to thedistance between the adjacent wheels of adjacent trucks of two coupledcars. This bar or rail 14 has a long flat face which is suiiicientlylong so that just before the last wheel of the head truck is leaving,thel first wheel of the firsttruck of the next car will come upon it,thus holding it pressed downward, as the wheels a. and Z) are shown asacting in Figure 4. rIhis relatively long face should be long enough totake care of passenger coaches: andby this means strain is retained onthe rod S7 for a longer period of time than with the contructionillustrated in my prior patent, thus making the actuation more certainand reducing the oscillation of the rods and levers making up thissignalling system.

As before remarked, the actuating device comprising the members 10, 14,15 and 17 is used for the purpose of setting the signal and is animprovement over the parts numbered 972L and 971J in my prior patent. InFigures 6 to 9, I illustrate the actuating device which is used forrestoring or causing the return of the signal to its safety or originalposition. In my prior pat-ent I showed a-restoring lever or member whichwas pivoted to the rail and projected upward above" the rail and whichwas struck by the wheels of the train as the train reached the restoringlever and was oscillated by engagement with each wheel. rllhisconstruction caused a great deal of vibration to be imparted to theparts and, therefore, was objectionable. In the construction illustratedin Figure 6, I have provided a restoring lever 18 which is pivotallymounted upon a bolt 19 attached to the rail and bearing against a fillerbloclr 20, as shown in Figure 7. The lever 18 is relatively wide at itsupper end and is provided with two angular faces 21 and 22 whichnormally have an angular relation to the face of the rail such that whenthe lever 18 is Vturned over into the position sho-wn in Figure 7 thefiat face 22 will be level with the face of the rail A and when ythe,leve-r is turned in the opposite direction the flat face 21 will belevel with the face of the rail. The lower end of this lever 18 is`pivotally connected by a linlr 23 ftoa longitudinally extending rod 24.fthis rod 24 extends along the track a certain distance, as will behereinafter stated, and at its end portion remote from the crossing isprovided with downwardly extending lugs 25.

Fivoted to a filler blocl; 26 (see Figure 10) are the angular levers 27,the depending arms of which are pivoted to the lugs 25, as at 28. Theshorter arms of the lever extend laterally and slightly upwardly undernormal circumstances and are pivotally connected to a longitudinallyextending actuating rail or har 29 having depending lugs which arepivoied to the short arms ofthe levers 27. One end of this actuating baror rail 29 is upwardly beveled, as at 80, and the other end is roundedolf, as at 81. rlhis actuating rail normally extends up suiiicientlyabove the rail [i that the beginning of Ithe inclined `portion 30 willbe just level with or slightly below the rail A so that the wheels of a.train coming from 'the lett in Figure 6 will strike this incline 80 anddepress the rail or bar 29 to the position shown in Figure 7. This willcause the bell crank levers 27 to turn upon their pivots and shift therod 211 longitudinally toward the right in Figure 7, thus turning theactuating or restoring lever over to the position shown in Figure 7where the face 22 is level with the rail or slightly below the same sothat the wheels of the train will not affect this lever. The movement ofthis rod 24 toward the rightshifts the yoke 65 toward the right to whichthe rod 24: is pivot-ed. This yoke 65 is provided with @twolongitudinally extending rods 6l and a plate 61.

Mounted in lugs 58 on a supporting frame 59 is the rod 57 which extendsto the signal mechanism, as is shown in my prior patent, and this rod 57has upon it two collars 60 and 62. VFhe bolts or rods 64 which areattached to the yoke 65 pass through guide openings in one lug 58 andthrough guide openings in the collar 62 and are connected to the plate61 which slides upon the rod 57. Between the plate 61 and the collar 60there is disposed the coiled compression spring 63.

It will be seen that this construction is precisely the same as thatpreviously described in connection with the actuating device 1da-ndoperates in the same manner. In other words, when the lever 18 isshifted to the left, as in Figure 7, it will force the rod 28 toward theriglrtl, forcing the yoke 65 toward the right and compressing the spring68, as in Figure 7, witlioutafiecting in any way the rod 57. 1f,however, the lever 18 is shifted in the reverse direction it will pullupon the yolie 65 and the plate 61 and this, bearing against the colla-r62, will cause this power to be transmitted to the rod 57 and this will,through the mechanism described in my prior patent, restore the signalfrom danger to safety position.

It will be noted from Figure 7 that the actuating rail 29 has a lengthequal to the distance between the adjacent wheels of any two trucks on acar and, of course, has a length greater than the distance betweenadjacent wheels of adjacent trucks of adjacent cars. The distancebetween the rounded extremity 31 of the depressible rail 29 and thelever 18 is equal to the distance between the wheels of a trucl; so thatthus it will be seen that before one wheel leaves the depressible rail29 the next adjacent wheel of the same truck must be over the restoringlever (see Figure 8). 1f a train moves from the left toward the right inFigure 7, the .first wheel of the tain will depress the rail 29 and thuswill shitt the rod 24 to the left and shift the lever 18 into theposition shown in Figure 7 with its face 22 level with the rail. Therewill always be at least one wheel of a train bearing upon the member 29and as a consequence this restoring lever 18 will be held in its loweredposition, that is the position shown in Figure 8, during the passage ofthe entire tra-in over the rail 29. lfVhe-n the last truck is about topass ofi' the rail 29, the first wheel of this last truck will strikethe restoring lever as the last wheel is about to leave the rail 29.llhen fthe last wheel of the last truck has left the rail 29, therestoring lever will swing up to the position shown in Figure 9, butthis last wheel will then shift the restoring lever over toward theright, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 9, thus exert-ing a pull uponthe rod 28, which will in turn exert a pull upon the rod 57 and thuswill restore the signal to its normal or safety position for the lreason that the train has passed the crossing.

n train moving in the opposite direction, however, that in from theright toward the left in Figure 6, will simply depress the restoringlever and shift the rod 23 and theA yoke. G5 toward the right andcompress the spring 63 without in any way aliiecting the signal. rl`husthis actuating or restoring device is operated by the passage ot avtrain in one direction but is not operated on the passage ot the trainin the opposite direction. lt will be seen turther that the lirst wheelot a` train ot cars passing trom the right to the lett will depress therestoring lever to the position 'shown in Figure T, the restoring leverwill then spring up and will again be depressed by the second wheel el'the truck but at this time the first wheel ot the truck has passe" ontothe depressible rail 29 and therca'lter this restoring lever will beheld down, as shown in Figures i and 8, and prevented troni anyoscillation until the entire train has passed, thus doing away with themore or less constant oscillations which were necessitated by my oldconstruction.

lt will be understood that the length ot the rail or bar Q9 must beequal to the distance` ot the inside wheels et the longest car used onrailroafV s, 'such as enger coaches, and the distance from the end 31 olthe rail or bar 29 to the restoring lever 1S must be equal to thedistance o the inside wheels ot the shortest coupled freight car. Thusthis will tak-e care of either long or short cars because by the timethe last wheel of a passenger train is leaving the bar 29, the headtruck of the last car is completely over the restoring lever 18, thusgiving plenty ot' time for the restoring lever 18 to shi'ift to serviceposition to be acted upon by the last truck of the train which shiftsthe signal to clear position. rthis will act the same with a treighttrain, as when the last wheel o the train is leaving the rail bar QS),the head truck or" the last has passed over the restoring lever andallows the restoring lever to shilt to service position, vthat is to itsupstanding position, so that the last truck et the train will act uponthe restoring lever and shift the signal to a clear position.

The reason that the rail bar 29 must be a length equal to the distancebetween the inside wheels of the longest coupled car such as a`passenger coach, as shown in igure 6 between the lines z3-.9; is becausethis bar 2S) must be always occupied by one or more wheels. ln this wayit will be seen that just beforethe last wheel ot the head truck isleaving the rail bar 29, the first wheel of the next truck is comingupon the rail bar 29 and thus the restoring lever 18 is retained out otlservice position. yl`he moment vthe last wheel of the train leave therail bar 29, the. spring G23 shi 1u restoring lever 18 to its serviceposition, allowing the last truck to act upon the restoring lever andshift the signa-l to a clear position.

lt will be necessary to provide means whereby in czse a short train,such as an engine and a tew cars, should pull over the crossing andrestore the signal to clear position and then should stop with theengine and cars between the setting member 111 and the restoring lever18, that when it backs up toward the crossing again the signal shall beagain set to its danger position. To this end, as shown in Figure 6, therod 2l carries upon it an angular lug 3a through which the rod S7passes, this rod being connected, as shown in Figure 1 and as shown inmy prior patent, to the 'setting lever. Mounted upon this rod is acollar 85, and it will be seen that when the engine backs up after thetrain has passed over the restoring lever the rear wheel will strike therestoring lever 18, shitting it to the lett in Figure (5, which in turnshitts the connecting rods 23 and 2li to the right, shitting with it theyoke to which the connecting rod 24 is connected. rl`his movement shiftsthe bracket against the shoulder or collar 35, which shitts the shoulder35, taking with it the rod Si', and this again shifts the signal todanger-showing position just as it the train had passed beyond the'setting device and then had backed back toward the crossing, againrunning ov-er the setting device.

is illustrated in Figure 6, each rod S7 is provided in its length with aslip joint. This is inade by forming the rod 87 in two sections andproviding one or these 'sections with a yoke 32. The extremity ot theother section ot the` rod 87 is formed with a collar or shoulder 33 onthe inside ot' this yoke and normally learing against the end wallthereof. lt will be obvious now that when the rod Si' is moved to theright in Figures 7 and 8 through the action orn the wheels depressingthe rail bar 29 or restoring lever 18, angle bracket 341- willshiftshoulder or collar 35 to the right and cause shoulder 825 te moveaway trom the yoke 32. This section will slide through yoke 32 and notaffect the other section, but when thel rod 87 is pulled to the right bythe distant releasing member 141, as shown in Figure 1, the yoke willengage with the shoulder l and this will cause both sections ot the S7to be pulled and set the signal to a d vnger position.

The reason for the provision ot this yoke is that when the rod 87 isshifted to the in Figures 7 and 8 by the lug 3st, as explained, thesignal will be set to ea. ger but this will not allect the settingdevice 14- tor the rod ST, which setting device is illustrated inFigurev la lt it was notl 'for this slip joint formed by the yoke 32 andthe shoulder 33, a movement otl the rod 87 to the right under t-heaction of the lug 3l would shirt the setting device 14 or actuatingmember. It will be understood that llO all of these rods 87 which areintended to shift the signalV from a safety to a danger position will beprovided with these slip joints 32.

It will be understood, of course, that there will be a set of therestoring levers 18 and their related rail bars 29 on each side of thehighway crossing, as shown in Figure l, and that there will be a set oneach side of the crossing for each track, that is, to operate thesignal, it being further observed that while l have illustrated only onetrack with a siding, yet some devices might be used to operate on anynumber of tracks by operating the same signal so that when a train ismoving toward the crossing on any one of the tracks it will ope-rate thesignal. The restoring levers will be disposed approximately from sixtyto a hundred feet on each side of the highway crossing, depending uponthe distance which is required in order to install the assembled railbar 29 and the rods extending to the restoring lever 18. The rail bars29 (see Figures 6 and 9) should be placed as close to the highwaycrossing as possible. The setting members lll, as shown in Figure 1 andin detail in Figures 2 to 5, should be disposed one on each side of thehighway crossing at a relatively great distance as, for insta-nce,fifteen hundred feet more or less from the crossing so that ample timewill be given for the signal to be set to a danger showing positionbefore the arrival of a train at the cross-ing so that after the signalhas been actuated sufficient time will be given to stem the approachingtrafiic and permit the crossing to become clear to trafiic.

Throughout the specication I have used the same reference numerals forthe main connecting rods leading from the actuating devices to thesignal S as are used 4in my patent above referred to so that theapplication of my device to the particular form shown therein maybereadily understood, but while I have particularly designed thisactuating mechanism both as regards the setting mechanism and therestoring mechanism for use with the signalling system disclosed in mypatent, l do not wish to be limited thereto as the setting mechanism andthe restoring mechanism might be used for other forms of signals or forreleasing railroad gates or the like.

l claim l. A car wheel actuating device for railroad signals including alongitudinally eX- tending rail bar disposed parallel to andapproximately against a railroad rail, levers upon which said bar ispivoted, the levers being pivoted intermediate their ends and swingingin a vert-ical plane to thereby permit the movement of the rail barlongitudinally of the rail in either direction and the depression of therail bar, and links pivotally connected to the levers whereby the leversmay be connected to J@he devices to be actuated.

Q. A signal actua-ting device of the character described comprising arail bar adapted to be disposed parallel to a railroad rail and bedepressed by the wheels thereof, the ends of said bar being downwardlyinclined, levers pivotally connected to said rail bar at their upperends and pivotally mounted intermediate their ends, and links pivotallyconnected to the lower ends of the levers and extending parallel to therail whereby the levers may be connected to mechanism to be operated.

3. ln a signal actuating mechanism, a wheel operated actuating devicecomprising a rail bar extending parallel to a rail and having a lengthgreater than the distance between the adjacent wheels of a truck or theadjacent wheels of two adjacent trucks of two adjacent cars, theactuating device being mounted :for vertical movement whereby it may bedepressed below the face of the rail and for simultaneous longitudinalmovement in either direction, and operating links operatively engagedwith said rail bar and transmitting motion therefrom.

4l. in a vsignal actuating mechanism, a rail bar adapted to be disposedbeside a .railroad rail and adapted to be depressed by the wheels of acar, levers pivotally supported at their middles, the levers extendingbelow their point of pivotal support, the levers being pivoted at theirupper ends to the rail bar and the extremities of the rail bar beingdownwardly and outwardly beveled, a link pivotally connected vto thelower ends of the levers, a sectional connecting rod, one of saidsections being operatively connected to said link and having slidingengagement with the other section in one direction, and a compressionspring against which said first named section bears and which itcompresses upon a relative sliding movement of the two sections.

5. An actuating device for signals including a lever pivotally mountedbeside a railroad rail and normally projecting upward into position tobe struck by the wheel thereof and depressible, a longitudinallyshiftable rail bar supported beside the rail in advance of said lever,angular levers pivoted to the rail bar and extending downward therefrom`and `pivotally supported intermediate their ends, a connecting rodpivotally connected to the lower ends of said levers and pivotallyconnected to the first named lever, the rail bar having a length greaterthan the distance between adjacent wheels of a railroad car and that endof the rail bar adjacent the first named lever being .spaced therefrom adistance less than the nearest distance between any two wheels of arailroad car.

llO

l 6. ln a railway signalling system, an actuating lever pivoted upon a.railway rail and normally projecting above the same, connecting rodsoperatively pivoted to the lower end of said lever and shiftabletherewith in one or the other direction, the lever being mounted formovement in either direction, and wheel actuated means disposed inadvance of said lever adapted to shift the lever to an inoperativeposition and hold the lever in its inoperative position until the nextto the last wheel of the last car of the train has passed the lever andthen permitting the lever to spring upward in order to bei actuated bythe last wheel of the train.

7. ln a railway signalling system, an actuating lever pivoted upon arailway rail and normally projecting above the same, connecting rodsoperatively pivoted to the lower end of said lever and shiftable there-`with in one or the other direction, the lever being mounted formovement in either direction, wheel actuated means disposed in advanceof said lever adapted to shift the lever to an Ainoperative position andhold the lever in its inoperative position until next to the last wheelof the last car of the train has passed the lever and then permittingthe lever to spring upward in order to be actuated by the last wheel ofthe train, a connecting rod whereby the power of said lever istransmitted to the signal, and means causing the lever to move in onedirection without affecting said connecting rod but causing ai movementof the lever in the other direction to affect the connecting rod.

8. A` signal actuating mechanism of the character described comprising alever pivotally supported at its middle beside a rail- .way nail, a railbar disposed beside the rail- Way rail forward of the lever and adaptedto be engaged by the wheels of a train and depressed thereby, Vangularlevers pivotally supportedeach intermediate its ends and each connectedat its upper end to said rail bar, a connecting rod pivotally connectedto the lower ends of said angular levers and extending to a point beyondthe iirst named lever, a link connecting said connecting rod and theiirst named lever and the connecting rod connected to the iirstnamed rodand extending onward therefrom and adapted to be connected to the signalmechanisn'i, the rail bar having a lengt-h greater than the distancebetween any two adjacent wheels of any standard car and being spacedfrom the lirst named lever a distance less than the distance between twoadjacent wheels of the same truck.

9. In a railway signa-lling system, the combination with a track, of asignal setting device disposed adjacent the track and operated by thewheels of a train passing in one direction, a signal restoring devicemounted beside the rails of the track and shiftable by t-he wheels of atrain in opposite directions, a rod transmitting the motion of the irstnamed actuating device to a signa-l, said rod having thereon a shoulderadjacent the restoring device, a connecting rod actuated by therestoring device and extending parallel to the transmitting rod andhaving thereon a lug engaging against said shoulder on one side thereofwhereby when said restoring device is shifted in one direction it willoperate said transmitting rod leading from the setting device and whenit is operated in the opposite direct-ion will not affect saidtransmitting rod and whereby said transmitting rod may be shifted in adirection to set the signal without affect-ing the rod connected to therestoring device, said transmitting rod being formed in two sectionshaving a slip joint between them permitting the two sections to beshifted toward each other a limited amount but causing one rod to bepulled when the other is pulled.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aiiix my signature.

CARL R. GRAVES.

